Month: February 2009

For the past week or more Kiki has harbored a longing to watch The Lion King. Today the longing got strong enough for her to go asking around the neighbors to see if she could borrow the movie. She succeeded and all four kids settled in to watch. I did not watch, but I could hear the sound from my office. I realized that I still have all of the dialog from this film memorized. The Lion King was one of about four movies that we owned when Kiki was a preschooler. (I can also recite Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, and Hercules.) We watched it a lot. But at some point the tape was either damaged or broken. I asked Kiki and she does not even remember us owning it. But I do. I remember curling up on the couch in our unfinished basement next to Kiki and her bowl of cheerios. She would watch and I would nap, because I was pregnant with Link and frequently tired. I still remember Kiki commenting with satisfaction at the end of the film. “And they all have Rars together.” Indeed they do. Today when the ‘Rar’ part came, I reached over and hugged Kiki. She is not so little anymore. I told her the story and she grinned. “So that’s why I like this movie so much!”

We also watched Get Smart today. I had not seen it yet, and Howard had only seen it once, so we all gathered on the couch. Patch snuggled up to me. Gleek snuggled up to Howard. Kiki sighed with contentment. “Finally a family movie time!” It was fun to snuggle up for a movie that everyone enjoyed together. Our tastes are sufficiently diverse that it is hard to find a movie that pleases us all. The movie was a good pick. There was enough physical comedy to delight the kids. There was enough subtle humor to amuse Howard, Kiki, and I. It was good for all of us to be together with no stress and no squabbles. Yay for fun movies.

Last night Patch had a hard time settling for bed. This has been typical lately. He’s always getting back out because he is “hungry.” With a load of work out of my hair, I was more relaxed at bedtime than I have been lately. So I tucked him into bed and talked with him for awhile. After I left to manage Gleek, Patch got back out of bed. I scolded him and he dissolved into a puddle of tears. He wanted more talking time. And then I remembered that when Patch is getting out of bed declaring hunger, it usually means that what he really needs is attention. All the kids could use more mom attention. I’m not sure when they last got real focused attention from me. So today I set about doing all the stuff that the kids have been wanting me to do, but I’ve not had time for. I worked hard while they were at school, but once they were home, I did their stuff. I played games with Patch. I ran a couple of errands for treasured items (a mood ring and a giant jawbreaker.) I looked at the kids and really saw them. I asked them stuff about their lives. It was good. And then I was sucked into a book. I didn’t really mean for that to happen. It is a book that I have read before. but I think it was a rebellion of sorts from the quiet voice in my head that says I should sometimes get to do things I want to do even though they don’t benefit anyone but me.

I am so close to being done. The Baen edits are finished, I just need to do some image processing to make the files smaller. Tomorrow is also the poster shipping day. Saturday and Sunday I’ve got birthday parties to run. Then I’ll be into the week when I can just focus on house and family rather than a dozen urgent business things.

Scrapyard is gone. I can now rejoice …Until Tuesday or Wednesday when the printer will give me a list of problems which I will then have to fix. I can hope that this time we got everything right, but that has never happened before, so I don’t expect it this time around either. The good news is that the printer is double checking our work and making sure everything looks marvelous. I’ve grown to depend on that. At least now I know not to panic when the list of fixes arrives. They’re all minor instead of “Your project is irrevocably broken.”

But I can’t quite kick back and take the rest of the week off. I still have formatting and uploading to do for Baen. Oh, and the posters arrived, so I have orders to fill. That has to fit in somewhere.

Tomorrow I burn files to DVD and ship them off to the printer. Scrapyard is all but done. The rest of the week will be spent preparing files for electronic distribution through Baen. That should be done by Friday. Then I shall clean my house. It will be nice to have a clean house again. It will be even nicer to have a clean house once Nancy and her family arrive to stay for the week. It shall be a week of vacation for me including a party and a trip to Idaho. Then I will get back to work. Resident Mad Scientist awaits.

So far today I have been a mother, a chauffeur, an office administrator, a customer service representative, a distribution processor, an inventory clerk, a contract negotiator, a chief financial officer, an accountant, a cook, a janitor, a layout editor, a merchandising coordinator, a laundress, and something akin to a zombie. That last is on the list because of everything that went before. I think I used every part of my brain that it was possible to use until the whole thing shorted out and I had to take a break.

So instead of writing an insightful post I will instead direct you to my friend Stacy Whitman who is running a seminar on writing science fiction and fantasy for children. She is an experienced and intelligent editor, so she’ll have loads of useful information.
Provo Library
Provo, Utah
Rm. 308 (Young-Card room)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
1-4 pm
Many more details can be found on Stacy’s site.

Sometime in the last six months I stopped putting things off until I’m not so busy. This is because as I peer ahead into the next few months and years, I can’t see a time when I won’t be busy. In the far off future there may be a patch of “Not Busy”, but I suspect it is a mirage. For the next while I just need to consider “Busy” and “Insanely Busy” as normal states for my life and plan accordingly. Fortunately all those years of caring for babies and toddlers taught me how to get things done in small slivers of time. It is an invaluable skill that I still use every day.

Truth be told, I’m not in a hurry to reach “Not Busy Anymore”. We are in a golden time both professionally and as a family. These are the times we will look back at and say “Remember when we were still shipping books out of the basement?” “Remember when Kiki watched the kids all day because we were at LTUE?” “Remember when all the kids had to get ready for school and out the door by 8 AM?” “Remember when we had shipping parties to get books mailed out?” “Remember when we had that cat for two weeks?” “Remember all those times that the dirty laundry pile was so huge that kids could hide in it?” I am not in a hurry to get to the “Not Busy” place, because I love all of the things that keep me busy. And honestly, I suspect I will always be busy because as these things wane, other things will take their place.

“I think that’s Callie.” Said Link’s friend as he petted the cat in Gleek’s lap. This small recognition led to the doorbell ringing an hour later. An 11 year old girl was at the door. I knew her and her family. She was in my creative writing class over a year ago. Her mother is Kiki’s youth group leader. They live around a couple of corners and down the block. The girl was here to see if our Keeka, that we found just over two weeks ago, was her cat Callie, who went missing last November. I led her to the back where Link was playing with Keeka. As we walked, a small piece of me hoped that she would be disappointed, so that my children would not have to be. I thought of the hours that Gleek and Kiki had spent just sitting outside and petting Keeka. We would never have deliberately gone out to acquire a cat, but a beautiful and friendly one had come to us unasked.

“Callie!” the girl gasped with delight. For a moment Gleek was delighted to swap cat stories. Gleek chattered about how we had found Keeka under our deck and rescued her. But then realization began to set in. Suddenly this cat was no longer our Keeka. She was someone else’s Callie. Gleek crumpled into sobs. I quickly realized that I could not just let the girl carry away our cat. Instead we walked with her, so that Gleek could see the home where Keeka lived. Patch came too, but Kiki and Link elected to stay home. Callie was greeted with delight by the rest of the family. They had all missed her and mourned her. It was a sight that Gleek needed to see. We came inside to talk about how the cat was lost and then found. Gleek got to see Callie curl up in her favorite chair and start purring. She also got to play with two tiny poodle dogs. Then I gathered my kids and we bid farewell.

All of my kids have a standing invitation to go and visit Callie any time they want. When we acquired the cat, this is actually the outcome I hoped for most, that she could go back to a home where she could be allowed indoors, but where my kids could visit. It is good, and yet tomorrow morning will be sad when there is no cat meowing at the back door to remind us that her bowl is empty. Tomorrow afternoon will be sad when she is not sitting on the doorstep waiting for the kids to arrive and pet her. We will go visit, but it will not be quite the same as when she was ours. But then I think of the joy on my friends’ faces. If I am a little bit sad, they were much more sad and now they are not. And neither is Callie. She was glad to be home.

I needed a plan fast because it was almost time for family home evening and it was my turn to provide the activity. I remembered a recipe that had been posted in the Codex forum, so I grabbed ingredients and started mixing. The kids trickled into the room. Kiki watched in disbelief as I dumped spoonfuls of flour into a mug

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Making an experiment.” I calmly answered. This was true. Any untested recipe is technically an experiment.
Gleek, having spotted the cocoa on the counter announced “I know what it is. It’s hot chocolate!”

“No it isn’t” Link protested. “She just put in an egg.”

Kiki peered into the cup. “Yeah. It is much too thick for hot chocolate.”

“I think it is going to explode.” Patch announced. All four kids were gathered around the counter, completely fascinated as I stirred brown glop in the mug.

“No it won’t” Kiki announced with all the certainty that being thirteen automatically supplies. “Food doesn’t explode.”

“Baking soda and vinegar does.” Link countered.

For a moment all was silent as four heads turned to watch the handful of chocolate chips be added to the mix. Then I turned and put the mug into the microwave.

“I told you it was hot chocolate!” Gleek announced triumphantly.

“No way.” Kiki declared. Before the argument could blossom, Howard and I called everyone to the table to begin the family event. We started with a song. Gleek picked Once There Was a Snowman, but with the caveat that we sing it backwards. This means that the snowman starts small and grows tall by the end instead of the other way around. As the song wound to it’s close, I glanced over at the microwave and burst out laughing. The concoction in the mug had puffed up over the top of the mug until it was as tall above the mug as the mug was tall.

“See!” Shouted Patch. “It exploded!”

All the children abandoned the table in a general rush to see the “exploded” experiment in the microwave. Thirty more seconds, and the timer beeped. We called everyone back to the table for prayer and lesson. Then we were ready for the mug. The contents of the mug had shrunk back into it. I dumped it onto the plate.

“This is a mug muffin.” I announced. We divided it between us. As muffins go, I’ve had better flavor, but it was still very good. It was particularly good when dipped in milk. But the joyous novelty of cooking a muffin in a coffee mug was fun for us all. Once the first one was gone, we made another.

Mug Muffins
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)(I absolutely recommend keeping them)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).